« The Dreamy Fish » is undoubtedly the unfinished work whose composition was the most laborious for Satie (crossed out drafts, modified structure, etc.), but also probably the most complex piece of music he has composed so far, again « for a tale of Lord Cheminot » (Contamine de Latour).
It is in difficult times that Erik Satie composed this piece. « I'm bored to death with grief » (letter to his brother Conrad, 1900). « Everything I timidly start fails with a boldness unknown to date. » Also, in 1901: « I am disgusted with myself more and more because I understand that I was not born in my time. » However, the « dreamy » fish seems to dance and quiver instead of dreaming, and the music does not summarise this gloomy state of mind of his.
The interpretation given here uses the score of the two-hand piano reduction edited by Robert Caby in 1970, the most famous one, based on the sketch for orchestra left unfinished by Satie. However, Robert Orledge published a new piano score in 1995, mainly referring to the only full manuscript, considered definitive and closer to the original intentions of Satie, incidentally correcting some mistakes originally made by Caby. This is the partition used in this video.
